SWINDON company RWE npower has been shortlisted for an award for its work on Lydiard Park.

The energy firm based at Windmill Hill has been a mainstay of the Lydiard Park project, which aims to return the grounds of the house to their former grandeur. RWE has helped out the project both financially and with employees' time and has also been instrumental in encouraging other firms to come forward and take part.

It has been shortlisted for the national Arts and Business awards, and the winners will be announced on March 1 at the Barbican Centre in London.

Phil Gibby, the regional director of Arts and Business, said: "This year's entries were incredibly strong and have elicited great discussion amongst the judges from the business and arts worlds.

"The shortlist is a superb example of how business and the arts can work well together.

"If you're thinking of partnering with a business or arts organisation you only need to look at this list to see how the right partnership can provide an enormous return on investment and many other mutual benefits for employees and communities."

Other nominees, which are spread across several categories, include bankers Coutts & Co and the Welsh National Opera, Vodafone and Modern Art in Oxford, Unilever and the Tate Gallery in London and Penningtons Solicitors and Newbury's Watermill Theatre.